


Dire: The Kid's Alright

by LeoArcana



Series: Dire 'verse [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Skinwalker Ben, Skinwalker Dean, Skinwalker Lisa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 09:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7634767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoArcana/pseuds/LeoArcana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean had gone out to go hunting and came back with a lost skinwalker puppy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dire: The Kid's Alright

Dean had gone out to go hunting.  He was starving and Castiel didn’t have enough food, not enough to spare for his appetite right now.  Plus, it had been a while since Dean had brought any kind of trophy present back to Castiel.  He was hunting along one of the cliffs bordering the city, high and far enough away that finding something decent should’ve been easy.  But so far, all he’d found was small game.  He didn’t object, he would take what he could get.  But none of it was trophy game.  At least, not by the time he was through.

He ducked his head to the ground and sniffed, searching for the scent of something worthwhile.  Nothing.  Dean whined softly to himself and turned around, going back the way he’d came.  He’d gotten up and left before Castiel had even woken up and now the sun was low in the sky.  He sniffed at the ground and brush as he walked by, half hoping he might still find something, but there was nothing bigger than a raccoon or skunk. 

Dean hopped down the rocks, disturbing only a few small ones as he went.  They tumbled a couple feet, clacking lightly, then were followed by the small sound of rushing gravel.  Dean stopped immediately, hearing the gravel slush intermittently with the sound of slightly bigger rock clacking.  He whipped his head to the side, fearing a rock slide, and saw a small creature up the hill to his left.  It was stumbling down the hill, stepping in patches of loss pebbles and kicking every possible rock by accident.  Dean narrowed his eyes at, trying to see what it was.

It was a small, fuzzy dog; a coyote or fox pup maybe.  The pup tumbled a few feet with a high pitched yelp that had Dean wincing in sympathy for it.  The pup landed on its chest, falling to its side and whimpering.  Dean ducked his head, glancing around for any sign of its family.  With no sign of anything else nearby, Dean took a cautious step towards the crying pup.  He’d been in similar situations before, with baby animals seemingly alone and defenseless.  But when he’d gone to investigate, he found they were never truly alone or defenseless.

He kept his attention away from the pup, watching the dried shrubs for any rustling and listening for the small snap of a branch or clack of a rock.  Even only feet from the pup, there was nothing. 

The pup took notice of Dean and twisted away with another yelp and round of whimpering.  It tried to get back up the hill it had fallen down, but to no avail.  Dean lowered himself to the ground, making himself smaller and gave the least intimidating bark he could; more of a light grunt than a bark.  The pup looked back at him, its tiny ears turned down in fear and its short tail between its legs.  It held still in fear of the dire wolf and stared with wide eyes.

Dean paused for a moment.  He didn’t want to scare the pup, he wanted to help.  He laid down on his stomach and gave another soft grunt.  The pup whined and tried once more to climb the hill, but slid down again and stared at Dean.  Dean grumbled to himself and rolled over on his back.  The pup cocked its head at Dean, confused and curious.  Dean yipped lightly, winning over the pup’s curiosity.  It crawled towards him, pausing every couple steps and expecting Dean to suddenly turn on him. 

The pup came up to his head and cautiously sniffed at his face.  This close, he could tell this wasn’t a coyote or fox pup.  It didn’t have the right bone structure or coloration.  It also didn’t match any local wolves, but it did look like a regular dog.  The pup walked around Dean, sniffing and nipping at him.  Its small teeth were nothing more than a minor irritation. 

Realizing Dean wasn’t a threat, the pup took to more aggressive, playful nips and crawling over his chest.  Dean let the pup play around for a few minutes to get it trust him before he rolled it off and got back to his feet.  The pup barked and danced away, but wagged its tail happily.  Dean looked around once more for its family and upon seeing nothing, he stepped forward and ducked his head, scooping the pup up and over onto his back.  The pup growled and twisted around, then worked its way onto Dean’s neck.  Close enough to his head for it to nibble on his ears.  That was more than a minor annoyance, but still not something for him to do anything about.  For now.

 

When Castiel walked in the door, he stopped dead in his tracks.  He was not expecting to see laying on the floor, idly taunting a small puppy.  He scrunched up his face in thought, wondering how this came to be and began to think that maybe it was a dream.  The puppy taking notice of his and sneaking up on him to bite his ankle told him it wasn’t a dream.

“Dean, what is— Why is there a puppy?” Castiel asked.

Dean sat up, shifting in the same motion.

“L-lost ki-id.”

“Kid?” Castiel repeated, “Is this a skinwalker?”

Dean nodded.

“This is someone’s child?” Castiel asked with growing alarm.

Dean shrugged.  There was a possibility the puppy’s bloodline was too muddled towards a dog.  He hadn’t tried shifting yet, he’d been having too much fun playing with Dean as it was.  But Dean had come to realize it by his eyes after about an hour.

Castiel kneeled down and picked up the puppy.  It barked and yipped in protest and tried to squirm away, but Castiel held him fast.

“Where did you find him?”

“On cliffs.  By himself-elf.”

“Maybe he’s not someone’s kid…” Castiel thought aloud, “Would your parents ever let you wander like that?”

He shrugged again.  When he was little and his mother was alive, the answer was no.  He was always in her sight.  But after she’d died, John was a considerably less watchful.

“Well, what do we do?  I don’t think we can really put up flyers reading ‘lost puppy’.”

“Could keep,” Dean suggested, “See if s-someone, um, looks for hi-im.”

Castiel started to say something, but the words died on his tongue.  He couldn’t say no, not to a puppy yawning in his arms.

“I suppose we’ll just have to play it by ear,” Castiel sighed, “But you are wearing clothes around him like that.”

“What?  Why?”

“Because if someone does come looking, I don’t want them to see their small child with a full grown naked man.  And I’m sure not everyone, skinwalker or not, is that comfortable with nudity.”

Dean groaned and fell back, shifting in the same motion.  He didn’t want to wear clothes so much.  Who knows if anyone is even looking for the puppy?

Castiel set the tired out puppy on the couch to go make something for dinner.  He contemplated making something soft enough for the puppy or mashing food to the equivalency of baby food, but it was probably older and stronger than he thought.  Still, in the end he erred on the side of soft food.  When he came back, he wasn’t surprised to find the puppy asleep.  But he was somewhat surprised to find the puppy asleep against Dean’s shoulder.  Dean glanced up and fixed him with an inquisitive look.  Castiel shook his head and set the plate intended for the puppy on the coffee table.  He sets Dean’s on the couch, giving him a warning look about making a mess, and sat down with just enough room between himself and the plate.  But Dean didn’t scarf it down as normal, he ate more slowly so as not to wake up the puppy. 

As it turned out, the puppy was something of a heavy sleeper.  Castiel could talk at a normal volume, even have the TV on, and Dean could move around as he needed to get comfortable.  The puppy didn’t wake up until a couple hours later and even then, it was only long enough to eat the food Castiel had made.  After that, he’d fallen asleep again.  He started to wake up when Dean got up, but it was only enough to whine in protest.  Castiel picked up the puppy and carried him to his room, followed closely by Dean.  He laid the puppy on the bed and went to get changed while Dean jumped up and curled around the smaller body.

“I’m a little jealous,” Castiel admitted.

He flashed Dean a smile to show he was only joking and he scooted up next to him.  Dean craned his head back and licked the side of his face, earning a light scowl from Castiel, and thumped his tail a few times with that look Castiel knew to be a coy smile.  Castiel groaned and pushed his head away, then snuggled up close to him.

 

In the morning, once again, Castiel was not expecting this.  He’d expected Dean to maybe be a little sprawled out or facing him now, or for the puppy to wedge itself between them.  He was not expecting a naked toddler.  He wouldn’t have even guessed he’d be this old, he looked like he was three or four years old; much bigger than his puppy form.  Without a thought, Castiel threw the blanket over the boy and got up quickly. 

It was a good idea to make Dean wear clothes, but what was he going to do with the boy?  He didn’t have little kid clothes laying around.  He could run to the mall and buy some, but he didn’t want to buy too many.  They could get spendy quick and if his parents came for him, it would be money he didn’t have to spare thrown out of the window.

Castiel paced around the room and thinking he would buy two sets of clothes, maybe three.  Just enough for the boy to have something to wear while clothes were being washed.  That would be fine.  And if his parents came for him, hopefully soon, Castiel might not even have to pull the tags off and could return.  He took a deep breath and decided to go with that plan.  He went back to the bed and placed his hand on the side of Dean’s face, rubbing just roughly enough to wake him up.  Dean cracked one eye open in a sleepy glare.

“I’m going to the store,” Castiel whispered.

Dean huffed and rolled his eyes, then caught sight of the boy on him and perked his ears up in surprise.  Castiel snickered as Dean sighed and closed his eyes with a grunt.

 

At the mall, Castiel stumbled his way through the children’s clothing section.  He should’ve paid more attention to how big the boy was before he’d left; he had no idea what size to get.  A retail worker was kind enough to help him, though she did laugh a bit he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for.  In the end, he ended up with three sets of clothes at the workers insistence.  She wasn’t pushing for sales, she was pushing because they were for a little kid and little kids are messy.

Castiel came back to find Dean dressed and scowling as both he and the boy sat at the table eating breakfast.  Bits of cereal were strewn around the table, particularly by the boy and the cereal box, as well as a few splashes of milk.  Dean kept an eye on him until he heard Castiel coming into the question.

“How come he can no clothes?” Dean shot.

“…Really?” Castiel asked.

He held the bag up for Dean to see.  Dean studied it for a minute, flicking his eyes up to Castiel for a hint.  He couldn’t read the wrinkled text on the bag.  But he figured it out from Castiel’s expression. 

Castiel set the bag down on the counter and fished through it.  He pulled out one set and started plucking the tags from it.  He shook out the clothes and walked over to the boy.

“No, no clothes!” the boy objected.

Dean snorted and Castiel frowned.

“You need to wear clothes,” Castiel stated.

“No, momma doesn’t make me ‘less we’re outside,” the boy pouted.

“Where is your mother?”

The boy hummed and shrugged.

“She told me t’go play.”

Castiel pursed his lips and sighed.  Regardless of what the boy’s mother said, he was going to wear clothes while he was here.  Castiel tried to put them on and the boy resisted.  Dean watched in amusement until they knocked the table and bowl of cereal nearly spilled.

“Ben,” Dean barked.

The boy scowled at the floor.

“Ben,” Dean said more slowly.

Ben humph’d and pouted at Dean.

“Wear clothes.”

Ben whined and kicked his feet for a second, but gave up and let Castiel dress him.  As he did, Castiel looked at Dean with confusion.  They’d had the kid less than twenty-four hours and he was already listening to Dean like he was his dad. 

On a somewhat related thought, Castiel wondered if his mother may have made a missing person’s report with the police.  He was sure he’d been gone more than twenty-four hours.  Maybe they should go to the police station and check.  If not, then they could leave Ben with the police and they could take care of him.  His mother would probably be more comfortable with that than having him stay with two strange men.

Dean wasn’t too fond of the thought.  He thought they should look for Ben’s mother on their own.  When Castiel asked how he planned to do that, Dean said he would go back to where he’d found Ben and follow his scent back.  Castiel hummed reluctantly, but it was a good idea so long as it worked.  He didn’t leave right away though.  Instead, he choose to stay and play with Ben for a while until he was tired out enough for a nap. 

Dean was grateful to be out of clothes again and running along the side of the interstate towards town.  He darted across the road to the dry grass on the other, then up the hill.  It took him only a few minutes to get back to the place he’d found Ben and a few minutes more to figure out the direction he’d come from.  Dean followed across the hill face, wrapping around the hill and slopping back down grassy, greener hill.  He came down to a quiet residential neighborhood and carefully stalked out of sight behind the houses.  He followed the scent as far as a playground, then it became too mixed with the smells of other children.

He searched around a while longer, hoping to pick it up again somewhere away from the park and ended up going back towards the city.  The scent began leading him away from hiding spots, making it more difficult to follow.  He couldn’t smell as well as a human and he hadn’t brought clothes with him anyway.  With a noise of frustration, Dean dropped it and went back home.

From outside the front door, Dean could already hear crying inside and felt his fur stand on end.  He stood upright and opened the door, wincing at Ben’s shrill voice.  Castiel was holding him on the couch and trying to shush him while he stroking the side of his face.  Castiel flashed him a panicked look and Dean was crossing the room.

“He tripped and scrapped his elbow.”

Dean flicked his eyes down to see reddened skin on Ben’s arm, though it wasn’t bleeding.  Dean shifted helplessly, he didn’t know to do anything better than what Castiel was already doing.  Ben kept crying for another five minutes, pushing Castiel to get up and pace the room, bouncing him on every step.  When he quieted down, Dean got dressed again, at Castiel’s reminding, and came back to take him from him.

The rest of the day went better.  Dean had said he followed the scent back to a park and that it would be a good idea to take him back there, maybe that was where he wandered off.  Castiel agreed and they both agreed to go back after dinner.  Ben was all too excited to go play and Castiel was faced with the problem of no car seat.  Dean waved it off saying Ben was big enough to not need one; Castiel disagreed and made Dean hold him.  Both Dean and Ben wore the same annoyed expression.

At the park, Ben ran all over and played on everything.  He dragged Castiel to the slides and jungle gyms, he took Dean to the monkey bars and swings.  All the while, Dean and Castiel kept an eye for a distressed woman.

She never came.

The next day had Castiel leaving Ben with Dean all day.  He tried to argue that he wasn’t a den-mother, but Castiel reminded him that he had to go to work and that Dean was the one to put them in this situation.  Dean huffed and grumbled and Castiel left with a smirk.  When he came back, both of them were fast asleep on the couch with Ben stretched out over Dean and pushing his head.  He woke them up and they went to try the park again.

Castiel asked if Dean wanted to go try following the scent towards the city, but unfortunately it had faded too much by now.  Their only hope was happening across Ben’s mother here or going to the police station.

It was too late to go that night; at least, that’s what they convinced themselves of.  They liked Ben.  But when the next day and the day after were just as unsuccessful, they trudged their way to the police station. 

“What can I do for you boys?”

Castiel stalled seeing Sheriff Mills.  She narrowed her eyes at him a little, trying to place him.  It had been a long while since she’d seen him.

“We, um, found this boy wondering around without his mother and we couldn’t find her,” Castiel started.

Sheriff Mills turned her eyes down to Ben holding Dean’s hand and moving closer to his side.  She smiled sweetly at him and kneeled down to his level. 

“What’s your name, sweety?”

“Ben…” Ben murmured.

“Can you tell me your last name?”

“It’s, um, B-Braeden.”

He shied away from her further, hiding almost completely behind Dean’s leg.  She tried to talk to him more, but he wouldn’t have it.  He buried his face completely in Dean’s leg and only grunted in response.  Sheriff Mills straightened up and told them that a woman had been coming in everyday asking if anyone had found her child.  She excused herself to go call Ben’s mother and left them to wait.

Ben opened up again once she was gone, evidently she was scary.  ‘Momma’ had always told Ben people with guns were scary and she had one on her hip.  Dean gathered him up in his arms and hugged him tightly, muttering that she wasn’t scary.  After a minute, Ben was back to his normal self in minutes and playing with both of them again.

Sheriff Mills came to tell them Ben’s mother was on her way and Ben shied away again.  But Dean managed to convince him she wasn’t a bad buy.  By the time his mother came in, he still wasn’t convinced.  As soon as he saw his mother, he bolted to her.  The woman swept him, crying his name and squeezing him tightly.  She whispered something inaudible to him and he nodded his head, much to her horror.  Her eyes snapped up to Dean and Castiel. 

She hesitated walking towards them, she was constantly looking between the two of them and Sheriff Mills.  The woman thanked them with a shaky voice and asked if she could have a moment with just the two of them.  Sheriff Mills nodded and walked away, saying she’d be back in a few minutes to take care of the rest of the police report.

“My son, he said he— That, uh, you know…?”

“Same,” Dean replied simply.

“You are too?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Oh, thank god,” the woman sighed, “I’m Lisa.”

“Dean.  And th-this is Cas,” Dean forced.

“Thank you both for finding him, I’m glad it was you.  I nearly had heart attack when I turned around and he was gone,” Lisa said, “Definitely did when his scent crossed yours.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you live around here?” Castiel asked, “We thought there weren’t any skinwalkers here.”

“No, we were on our way to go see his dad.  We stopped here for the night to get out of the car for a little while.”

She thanked them several times more before Sheriff Mills came back with paperwork for Lisa to sign for her.  She also had Castiel and Dean sign it, which was interesting for Dean to do.  He hadn’t written his name since he was four and it appeared to actually stress him out a bit.

Sheriff Mills left them then and Lisa thanked them once more and said it was nice meeting them.  As they went to leave, Ben broke away from her again and ran back to them.  He hugged Dean as tightly as he could, then Castiel.  He looked back at them and waved enthusiastically as Lisa picked him up and carried him out.

“Miss him,” Dean said.

“It’s been a minute, Dean.”

“Still miss him.”

“Yeah, me too,” Castiel admitted.

**Author's Note:**

> some fluff for all the heavy stuff :D  
> prompt: So I read your fic Dire (i loved it <3!) and here's my timestamp idea :) In the future Dean finds a very young skinwalker pup and he and Cas search for its parents or pack. Meanwhile they have to care for it. Up to you whether they find its family or they adopt it, but I love the idea of new!parents Dean and Cas + puppy shenanigans haha.  
> [request your own timestamp here](http://leo-arcana.tumblr.com/ask)


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